Accra, May 19, GNA - Mr. Dominic Nyame, General Secretary for Prestea Concerned Citizen Association, an advocacy group, on Tuesday called on government to restrain Golden Star Resources, a Canadian-US mining company operating in Prestea, from expanding its operations in the country. He said ever since the multinational mining company started its operations seven years ago, many of the residents in Prestea, a town near Takwa, in the Western Region, have been adversely affected by the negative activities of the company.

Speaking at a news conference in Accra, Mr Nyame said, "What is worrying is the fact that the company intends to avoid solving the problems it had created but to extend its operations to cover communities such as Nakaba, Bondai, Mbease, Nsuta and others around Prestea."

Recounting some of the alleged activities engaged in by the company, he said it had dumped rock waste close to the Prestea Government Hospital, filled the spring which served the towns folks with mine waste, and had dug some 45 pits and left them uncovered thus becoming death traps. Others, he said included the demolition of properties belonging to some underground mine workers such as 24 bungalows, a staff club house, a processing plant as well as the town's train station. Mr. Nyame said though the Environmental Protection Association (EPA) in 2002, held a public hearing in the community to assess the impact of the company's operations, the concerns of the people were not heard.

"We have raised the issue of the effects of the mine blast on buildings, the problem of dust, the closeness of open pits to residential areas and the effects of mining on water bodies, but EPA has not listened and has even failed to come to our aid," he lamented. He alleged that, a 7-year old girl in the community by name Joyce Oboako, has become mentally-challenged because she hit her head to the ground as result of the intensity of the mine blast. "All the company could do was to pay GH¢1,000 to the parents and to offer employment to the father as a form of charity," he said, adding that, the company was responsible for the permanent brain damage Joyce suffers.

Professor Atta Britwum, a Lecturer at the University of Cape Coast and a member of the Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining, WACM, described gold mining as a curse as its activities depleted the soil and ruined the environment. He asked anyone doubting this statement to visit any of the mining communities to assess the negative impact of mining activities on the environment.

He called on government to take the EPA to task for neglecting its role in protecting the environment, the health and the general well-being of the people in Prestea in particular. "There is trouble in Prestea, and everywhere mining companies are operating. EPA seems not to have listened to the plight of the people," Prof. Biritwum said.

He called on the media and other advocacy groups interested in the welfare of the environment and pubic health to take to task bodies and authorities in charge of the environment for accountability. 19 May 09